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February 9, 2003 The Gateway Decorative Artists meeting was held on February 9, 2003 at the Carrollton Club. All Board members were present. President, Allison Bacon, called the meeting to order at l:10 p.m. Allison welcomed returning members and guests. Jeanette Bishop gave the invocation. She asked the membership to observe a moment of silence in remembrance of Joycelynn Smutz who passed away on January 22, 2003. Allison announced that our goal today would be to complete the business portion of our meeting by 2 p.m. affording us ample time for today’s program of painting with our past, present, and future presidents in honor of President’s Day. The membership will be surveyed for input regarding our common goals and the direction the chapter will take in the future. A new location committee has been formed. Volunteers are still needed to help with WWSS. The National Convention is coming up. Registration begins February 17. Several people are looking for roommates at convention. Judy Sloan is looking into a bus for transportation to Indiana. At least 30-35 people would be needed in order to do this. Anyone interested in traveling by bus should contact Judy Sloan. Allison called for a motion to accept the November and December minutes as published in the newsletter. The motion was made by Carolyn Dawson and seconded by Lida Gillham. The motion passed. Allison also asked for a show of hands to accept the Treasurer’s report as filed. All agreed. Vice President, Ellen Rohne, then took the floor. She thanked the membership for the Valentine’s Day gift bags that were brought today for delivery to Shriner’s Hospital in time for their party this coming Friday. She also asked for Easter baskets to be brought to the April meeting and she reminded that they should NOT include sweets or snacks. Books, small games, colors, and stuffed animals would be good. The memory box program will continue. We still have 340 boxes in our inventory that can be painted. We have $62 in our memory box fund to be used for shipping and handling, but this amount will probably not be enough. Janie thought that Cindy had mentioned an additional donation might be forthcoming again from Mastercard for this program. Ellen also unveiled a new charity idea – painting suitcases or backpacks or tote bags for foster children to put their things in as they are moved from place to place. This would be a one-time charitable contribution. The membership was in favor of doing this. A suitcase workshop or paint-in was discussed. If this develops it will be announced at a later date. Members could also paint on their own and bring them to the September meeting. There are several organizations that could benefit from this endeavor; namely, Family and Children’s Services, Catholic Charities, the Jewish Relief Fund. Our 2003 retreat will take place October 3-5 at the Holiday Inn on Butler Hill Road in South County. This location is convenient to our chapter being about a hour’s drive for most members. Kimswick is about 15 minutes south of the hotel and South County Mall is just a few minutes away. The hotel has accommodated us very well in past years. The meeting rooms are a nice size. It is preferred that everyone stay at this hotel. A guarantee by the chapter of forty rooms over three nights means no cost to the chapter for the meeting rooms. Ellen said that she was planning two color pages for this year’s retreat booklet featuring the chosen class projects. However, this would require a prepaid fee of $2 for each booklet requested. The sign up and payment deadline for this color booklet will be May 15. You may send your request and payment to either Ellen or Janie Parisi at any time between now and then or do so at the April meeting. Class size this year will be limited to 15. Therefore, it is recommended that members sign up early to be assured of getting into the classes they desire. Ellen has handouts for member teachers or anyone else who thinks they might want to teach a class. The membership was urged to submit projects for retreat. There are committee sign-up lists for those who would like to help plan for retreat. Toni Dosser, Program Chairman, reported on upcoming seminars. Patterns and prep instructions are available for the Mary Ann Gibilisco seminar as well as food assignments for lunches during the seminar. We should have pictures from Rosemary West at the next meeting. Toni would like to assemble a program committee that would help to plan future chapter programs. Please contact Toni if you would be interested in helping. Linda Nelson will chair the Christmas committee and plans and projects for this year’s party are already in the works. Suzanne Glidden, Newsletter and Website Editor, said that notes or announcements for inclusion in the newsletter could either be mailed or emailed to her. Suzanne’s address can be found either in the directory or on the back cover of your newsletter. The next newsletter deadline will be March 23. Cindy Hicks, Membership Chairman, reported that we now have 92 members. There are 58 members in attendance today and 7 guests. Guests who became new members today will get goody bags at the next meeting. Gerry Klein and Annette Dozier both donated copies of their new books as attendance prizes. Anyone still wishing to participate in Secret Pal may still do so and should see Cindy for a form. Cindy will also have 2004 Secret Pal handouts available at the September meeting. Also, please contact her if anyone has suggestions or critiques concerning the area of membership in general. A drawing was then held for attendance prizes. Allison announced that she had forms available for anyone wishing to donate a painted item for the new Silent Auction event being held at National this year. There is a $10 fee per piece entered and there are currently 16 people participating. The chapter is paying the fee. Forms need to be completed and submitted as soon as possible. Vada Galvan handed out service awards for last year to members who were unable to attend the Christmas Party. She unveiled and presented Gateway’s new “Arty” award to Linda Nelson and Annette Dozier for their award-winning gingerbread baking skit that was performed at the Christmas party. I believe everyone agreed this was one of the best holiday parties we ever had. Donna Wessel then gave the membership a brief “Board Report” outlining some of the tasks and concerns the Board will need to address this year. Of primary concern will be the challenge of finding a possible new meeting location for 2004 and beyond and the updating of our by-laws. Committees are currently in place for both of these activities. Our paint-in today will give members an opportunity to paint a project with one of six previous chapter presidents. Each teacher has prepared a different project and members planning to stay were given a ticket at random for one of these projects. There being no further business to discuss, Mary Jo Kumer made a motion to adjourn at 2:20 p.m. Judy Sloan seconded the motion. Respectfully submitted, Donna Wessel
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